So I recent had a Garage door "professional" come out to my house and look at my garage. I originally thought I was having a motor problem because it would only lift door sporadically. After performing a 25 point inspection he believed he located the problem, which was the spring system from my Wayne Dalton Garage (torquemaster). He told me how horrible of a system they are and they don't fix them because of that they only replace the entire system and would cost me $700 or more. So now I'm left trying to figure out what I need, torquemaster springs, bracket assembly, both or if I need something completely else. I need some experience Wayne Dalton experience.
Wayne Dalton Garage
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Best Answer
Any door should open easily by hand. It's a common misconception that garage doors are heavy and need motor drives to lift them. Nope. You don't have to lift the door at all. They have a spring mechanism which fully counter-balances the weight of the door, and the only resistance is rollers, hinges and gaskets. (I did some rehab on some rough old 12x16' industrial doors, mind you these doors probably weigh 300 pounds, and they all now open easily.)
When you work a door by hand, you feel the mechanism work. If it starts to resist or bind, you know it and are likely to fix it before it gets too bad.
So, motor drives are just a convenience. But there's a nasty side-effect: you don't feel the door, and the opener doesn't tell you - it forces the door anyway, which is the worst thing to do to a damaged door. It turns minor damage into more serious damage, until the door fails entirely.
So the answer is easy: Disconnect the motor drive and operate the door by hand. It should operate relatively easily. If it doesn't - repair the door. There's plenty of DIY information out there. Just beware of the spring mechanism, it contains a lot of energy and can hurt you.
I distrust the salesman's rap of "25 point inspection, conclusion need new door, and by amazing coincidence that's what I get paid commission on". Those Torquemaster springs can be obtained... and if I recall they have a pretty nice winding mechanism, which solves the scariest part of working with garage doors.